Nearly two months after the controversy over the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections, the Jabalpur High Court has issued notices to BJP Rajya Sabha MPs Mahesh Kevat, Tarun Chugh and Rajnish Agrawal, as well as the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Returning Officer, in connection with an election petition filed by senior Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan.

Natarajan's nomination papers were rejected during scrutiny, a move that eliminated the need for polling and led to all three BJP candidates being elected unopposed. The High Court has now sought responses from all the parties, with the matter scheduled to be heard on September 11.

Although the petition directly challenges Mahesh Kevat's election, the Court has also issued notices to Tarun Chugh and Rajnish Agrawal since the outcome of the case could impact the validity of the entire uncontested election. At this stage, the High Court has only issued notices and has not made any observations on the merits of the case.

The dispute dates back to June, when the Returning Officer rejected Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination after the BJP alleged that she had failed to disclose details of a pending case in Telangana in her election affidavit. Accepting the objection, the Returning Officer held that the affidavit was incomplete. Congress strongly opposed the decision, calling it legally unsustainable and arguing that the party was denied a fair chance to contest the election.

The rejection changed the electoral equations in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly. With 164 MLAs, the BJP had enough strength to comfortably win two Rajya Sabha seats but was short of the numbers required to independently secure the third. Congress, meanwhile, was expected to put up a strong contest for the remaining seat through Natarajan. However, after her nomination was rejected, polling became unnecessary and all three BJP candidates were declared elected unopposed.

Congress had initially approached the Supreme Court seeking urgent intervention before the election process concluded. The apex court refused to interfere, observing that disputes over the rejection of nomination papers should ordinarily be challenged through an election petition after the election process is complete. It left open the statutory remedy under the Representation of the People Act, prompting Natarajan to move the Jabalpur High Court.

The case now hinges on Section 100(1)(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which states that the improper rejection of a valid nomination can be a ground for declaring an election void. If the High Court eventually finds that Natarajan's nomination was wrongly rejected, it could reopen questions about the legality of the uncontested Rajya Sabha election. However, whether the election of any of the BJP MPs is ultimately set aside will depend on the Court's final decision.